Israel banned growing it locally, and the Chief Rabbinate stopped allowing it to be imported with kosher certification..
After a team developed a new program for raising the geese to produce foie gras to the satisfaction of the Chief Rabbinate, they decided to approve the arrangement with certification.
A slaughterhouse based in Hungary is going to be doing the production with rabbinic supervision over the process of fattening up the birds. The breeding and the fattening will have to be done on the same site - no transporting these birds. Additionally the method of stuffing the birds will have to be one that will not cause damage to the esophagus - grains being fed to the birds will not have sharp edges and the feeding will use a silicon tube instead of a metal one.
Assuming the process is monitored well and passes inspection, the foie gras will be certified as glatt kosher - mehadrin, chalak, glatt, whatever you want to call it.
source: Jewish Press
I cant wait to try it. I think I have only had it once in my life, at least that I can remember...
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Not sure if this solution is more or less humane, but several years ago I asked a senior member of the Rabbinate's kashrut department why they can't put a stop to kashrut citification of Foie Grass. He said that even though he is personally against the practice, by law the Rabbinate is only allowed to rule on whether something is kosher. They are legally not allowed to withhold certification because they don't like a company's social policies, or advertising, or because a hotel has a Christmas Tree, or immodest wait staff, or the animals are mis-treated. They can only withhold certification if the product is not kosher.
ReplyDeleteOf course, for a product to have a private Bedatz or Mehadrin certification, that is up to the discretion of the body issuing the certificate.